NEC Electronics and Mysticom Ink Ethernet Core License Agreement

NEC Electronics' World-Class System LSI Solutions to Incorporate Mysticom Ethernet PHY
    
KAWASAKI, Japan, SANTA CLARA, Calif., DÜSSELDORF, Germany and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., December 10, 2003 – NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a global leader in the manufacture and sales of differentiated System LSI solutions, together with its affiliates and Mysticom, a supplier of innovative high-speed communication ICs and cores, today announced that the companies have reached an agreement for Mysticom to license the MystiPHY™110, a DSP-based 10/100 Mbps Ethernet physical (PHY) core to NEC Electronics and its affiliate companies worldwide. This agreement will enable NEC Electronics to expand its portfolio of integrated system LSI solutions that support the growing Ethernet connectivity needs in communication, industrial control and consumer electronics applications.

"NEC Electronics continues to execute its global strategy to seek out best-in-class IP cores to pair with its technology offering and provide customers with a wide range of available solutions. As the use of Ethernet expands into more and more applications, companies need the ability to quickly develop a wide range of Ethernet-enabled devices," said Tetsuo Yoshino, general manager, 1st Custom LSI Division, NEC Electronics Corporation. "Mysticom's 10/100Mbps Ethernet PHY core has been proven in many silicon technologies, and can be easily integrated into our various system LSI products. The combination of NEC Electronics' existing IP cores and this Ethernet PHY core lets us provide a new system LSI solution to our customers."

Based upon a patent-pending architecture, the DSP-based MystiPHY 110 is a proven, high- performance 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PHY core designed to simplify integration into complex system LSI products and migration to future CMOS process technologies, providing customers with fast time to market, flexibility, guaranteed interoperability, and scalability. The optimized architecture also helps reduce die size and lower power consumption, making an ideal solution for both consumer applications as well as high-end communication system products.

"We are excited to partner with a semiconductor industry leader such as NEC Electronics," said Rex Kiang, director of marketing at Mysticom. "NEC Electronics' extensive offering of ASICs and ASSP products and its world-class system LSI expertise will provide greater market access to Mysticom's technology and solidify our position as the leading supplier of Ethernet PHY cores."
Availability

NEC Electronics system LSI products featuring the Mysticom MystiPHY 110 Ethernet PHY will be available globally beginning in August 2004. NEC Electronics anticipates shipping products featuring the MystiPHY 110 core in volumes of 150,000 units per month by August 2005. Availability subject to change.
About the MystiPHY 110

The MystiPHY110 is a standard IEEE 802.3/802.3u-compliant 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX/FX Ethernet PHY core. The DSP-based design approach provides superior performance that exceeds the IEEE 802.3 requirements for cable length and noise immunity, and enables operation over cable lengths of up to 160 meters.

About NEC Electronics
NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handsets, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets, and platform solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 24 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.necelam.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.ee.nec.de). In addition to marketing, selling and supporting NEC Electronics products to customers in their respective regions, NEC Electronics America and NEC Electronics Europe also operate local manufacturing facilities in Roseville, California, and Ballivor, Ireland, respectively. Additionally, NEC Electronics America for North America and NEC Electronics Europe for Europe are the sales and marketing channels of NEC AM-LCD and PDP modules. For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.

About Mysticom
Founded in 1997, Mysticom provides complex DSP and mixed-signal VLSI solutions for use in high-speed communication systems. Mysticom's products range from 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PHY cores to 10 Gbps transceiver integrated circuits (ICs) for Ethernet and backplane applications. Mysticom is one of the few companies in the world to have successfully developed high-speed physical layer networking technologies that can be used in local, metropolitan, and wide area networks. Mysticom is headquartered in Netanya, Israel with marketing, sales, design and customer support offices in Mountain View, Calif. Additional information can be found a www.mysticom.com.

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NEC Electronics is either a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Mysticom and MystiPHY are registered trademarks of Mysticom Ltd.
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